Force to be first with computers

TetraTab in-car laptops will be fitted to the dashboards of every response car in the Force to provide officers with the same computer access as in an office.

Chief Insp Kerry McLernon, who led the remote working project team, said: “This means that the officers can respond more quickly to incidents because they will already be out in the cars, it will make our response teams more effective and efficient and there will be more officers on the streets.

“We will be the first force in the region to get fully mobile with this system, and are leading the way with this technology.”

The first response car was fitted with the computer system in June and the roll out will continue across the force in the coming months.

Building on the benefits of the BlackBerry, the in-car systems will allow officers Wi-Fi access to additional force intelligence systems, which will reduce dependency on the control room, freeing up their time to deal with emergency calls. It will also mean officers can complete administrative tasks from their vehicles rather than returning to the station.

Dep Chief Const Sue Fish said: “The better equipped our officers are whilst out on patrol in the community, the better service they will be able to provide to the public. The TetraTab provides them with a portable office in their vehicle, which will mean faster and more efficient investigations and enquiries at the scenes of incidents.”

The security marked systems, which do not store data on them, can be moved between vehicles but will be useless without a police vehicle.

Pc David Kenna, who was one of the first officers using the new system, sent his feedback via the TetraTab. He said: “I can say that after a full day of use it has been excellent. I would be more than happy to use this out and about every day.”